Insertable Container for a Refrigerating Appliance

ABSTRACT

A drawer/insertable container combination for a refrigerating appliance, including a drawer and a container that can be inserted into the drawer. The insertable container includes a container body and a handle that protrudes from the container body. The insertable container can be placed on the drawer in a position wherein the container body is located inside the drawer and the handle protrudes past the front side of the drawer.

The present invention relates to an insertable container which can be placed in a larger container such as a drawer of a refrigerator in order to subdivide said drawer, to sort items of different types in the container or utilise the available space more effectively. Insertable containers of this type are usually box-shaped, constructed with a bottom and side walls and fabricated in one piece from plastic by injection moulding.

If a drawer of a refrigerator is used for storing chilled goods which can evaporate water such as unpackaged vegetables for example, the moisture evaporated from these chilled goods can deposit on the inner walls of the drawer and collect on its bottom. For this reason many users line the bottom of this type of drawer with absorbent paper. In the case of an insertable container inserted in such a box, the same problem can arise so that, instead of lining the insertable container with absorbent material, a user may well prefer not to use this at all and instead, stack the chilled goods higher in the drawer than is beneficial to their quality.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an insertable container for a refrigerating appliance which can be manufactured particularly simply and inexpensively.

Another object is to provide an insertable container wherein the problem of moisture deposition is avoided.

Both objects are solved by an insertable container comprising a bottom and side walls joined to said bottom by the side walls being separated from one another by a gap. As a result, on the one hand it is possible to form the insertable container from a blank of plate material simply by bending the material at the boundary lines between bottom and walls, the walls of the insertable container remaining unconnected to one another. The gaps allow an exchange of air between the interior of the insertable container and the remaining interior of a box accommodating the insertable container so that moist air can escape from the insertable container and the moisture contained therein can be deposited at a different location.

Naturally, this possibility for exchange of air is not dependent on the type of manufacture of the insertable container; the same advantage is also achieved if the insertable container is manufactured in the usual fashion by injection moulding.

The side walls of the insertable container are preferably provided with an outwardly projecting angled flange at their upper edge which can be placed on the upper edges of the walls of a box accommodating the insertable container in order to hold the insertable container at a distance above the bottom of the box.

In the case of one side wall, the flange is more appropriately extended by a downwardly directed gripping tab by which the insertable container can be conveniently grasped so that it can easily be removed from the box.

If this insertable container is placed in a drawer, the gripping tab preferably projects outwards over the front side of the drawer so that on the one hand it does not hinder any displacement of the drawer and on the other hand it can be grasped directly by a user to optionally pull the drawer jointly with its insertable container from the refrigerating appliance.

Perforation of the bottom additionally improves the air exchange between the container and the box accommodating it.

The flanges of the insertable container resting on the upper edge of one wall of the box are preferably not wider than the upper edge on which they lie so that they do cannot project over the lateral boundaries of the box and impede its displaceablity.

In order to ensure that the box is securely supported at the upper edges of the container wall regardless of dimensional tolerances or temporary deformations of the container or the box, it is preferable if at least some of the side walls of the insertable container press elastically against the walls of the box. This can be achieved particularly simply if the insertable container has side walls which run downwards towards one another, which in their upper area in the unstressed state are somewhat further apart from one another than the width of the box accommodating the insertable container and which consequently contact the walls of the box when the insertable container is inserted in the box. Flexible deformity of the side walls is provided by the fact that they are not connected to one another.

Side walls which run downwards towards one another are also appropriate without elastic pressure contact to simplify the insertion of the insertable container into the box.

Further features and advantages of the invention are obtained from the following description of an exemplary embodiment with reference to the appended figures. In the figures:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an insertable container according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the insertable container placed in a drawer of a refrigerating appliance.

The insertable container 1 shown in perspective view in FIG. 1 is formed from an approximately cross-shaped blank of flat, transparent plastic material by bending the arms of the cross not completely at right angles to thus form the four side walls 2 to 5 of the insertable container. Pairs of opposing side walls 2, 4 or 3, 5 each run downwards towards one another towards the bottom 6. The side walls 2 to 5 are each separated from one another by a corner gap 7 which allows the side walls 2, 4 or 3, 5 to yield elastically to a force acting from the lateral direction.

A horizontally, outwardly projecting flange 8 parallel to the bottom 6 is formed on each of the upper edges of the side walls 3, 5. No such flange is provided at the rearward side wall 4. At the front side wall 2 said flange is extended by a gripping tab 9 which runs obliquely forwards and downwards.

In order to intensify the air exchange with a box surrounding the insertable container 1, a plurality of holes 10 is formed at the bottom 6. In order to prevent contact over a large area between moisture-releasing chilled goods and the bottom 6, this could additionally have an imprinted corrugation not shown in the figure on its upper side.

FIG. 2 shows the same insertable container 1 mounted in a drawer of a refrigerating appliance. The drawer 11 is shown as opaque in the figure but in the same way as the insertable container 1, can be made of transparent plastic material.

The flange 8 of the front side wall 2 rests on the upper edge 12 of a front side 13 of the drawer 13 which, when this is placed correctly in a refrigerating appliance, is facing the door opening of the refrigerating appliance. Formed in a lower area of this front side 13 is a handle recess 14 for withdrawing the drawer 11. The gripping tab 9 of the insertable container 1 projects over the front side 13 of the drawer 11 so that a user can also withdraw the drawer 11 by pulling the gripping tab 9. The user can then conveniently lift out the insertable container 1 from the drawer 11 using this gripping tab 9 without needing to reach into the interior of the drawer 11. This is especially advantageous because in its pushed-in position the drawer 11 is generally covered by a plate located thereover which makes it difficult to reach into the drawer 11 behind the rear wall 4 of the insertable container 1 even when the drawer 11 is pulled out.

In its inserted position in the drawer 11, the side walls 3, 5 of the insertable container 1 press elastically from inside against its walls 15, 16 such that its flanges 8 are supported on its upper edges. When the drawer 11 becomes distorted during handling and as a result, the upper edges of the walls 15, 16 move away from one another to some extent, the side walls 3,5 follow this movement and their flanges 8 remain stably resting on the upper edges of the walls 15, 16. Thus, despite the small bearing area of the flanges 8, it is ensured that these are supported onto the walls 15, 16 if, for example, the drawer 11 is removed from the refrigerating appliance and becomes distorted under the weight of its contents. Any support of the insertable container 1 in the interior of the drawer 11 is thus eliminated. 

1-11. (canceled)
 12. A drawer/insertable container combination for a refrigerating appliance, comprising: a drawer; a container that can be inserted into said drawer; said insertable container including a container body and a handle that protrudes from the container body; and said insertable container can be placed on said drawer in a position wherein said container body is located inside said drawer and said handle protrudes over a front side of said drawer.
 13. The combination according to claim 12, wherein in said position the bottom of said insertable container is at a distance from the bottom of said drawer.
 14. The combination according to claim 13, including at least some of the side walls of said container body bear an outwardly projecting angled flange at their upper edge, said flange in said position rests on an upper edge of said drawer.
 15. The combination according to claim 14, including a flange which rests on a wall parallel to the direction of withdrawal of said drawer, said flange does not project laterally over said wall.
 16. The combination according to claim 14, including some of said side walls of said insertable container provided with a flange, at least some of said flanges press elastically against said walls of said drawer.
 17. The combination according to claim 12, including said side walls of said insertable container are not connected to one another.
 18. The combination according to claim 12, including said insertable container has side walls which run downwards towards one another. 